Mauro blasts Bush in new campaign commercial Thursday

AUSTIN (AP) - Democratic gubernatorial candidate Garry Mauro opened fire Thursday with a wide-ranging television salvo criticizing Gov. George W. Bush on issues ranging from Indian casinos to teacher salaries.

The TV commercials, which aides said would reach the airwaves Friday, also hit the Republican governor for debating but once during the campaign.u

The blitz comes as a new Texas Poll showed Bush still holding a commanding 45 percentage point lead.

Mauro said that poll was wrong. Bush spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said the survey is significant.

"If there is any question, I think the Texas Poll shows the overwhelming majority of Texans think Gov. Bush has a strong record of accomplishment," she said.

With the election less than two weeks away, both campaigns have shifted into high gear.

Bush's camp this week also began airing a new commercial, one touting the incumbent's numerous endorsements.

"He puts leadership ahead of

partisanship, and principle ahead of politics," that ad says of Bush, who's bidding to become the first governor in Texas histo-

ry to win consecutive terms.

Mauro campaign manager Billy Rogers said the Democrat's ads will begin airing in 10 areas Friday and be broadcast statewide by next week.

In some of the commercials, Mauro talks about his immigrant great grandparents, working his way through school and seeking "to protect the Gulf Coast for all time" as land commissioner for the past 16 years.

In an ad aimed at El Paso, Mauro criticizes Bush's opposition to the Speaking Rock casino on the Tigua Indian reservation.

"George Bush wants to shut it down," Mauro says. "That's wrong, because the Tigua tribe as the sovereign right to operate it." The latest Texas Poll, published Thursday, found Bush backed by 66 percent of likely voters to 21 percent for Mauro, with 12 percent undecided or refusing to answer.

The poll said the increasingly bitter race for lieutenant governor is even, with Democrat John Sharp and Republican Rick Perry each holding 37 percent and a sizable number of voters undecided. The strongest Democrat in the survey was former attorney general Jim Mattox, who's seeking that office again. Mattox led Republican John Cornyn 47 percent to 31 percent.